ESA Medical

Crazydiamond

Thank you for your succint reply - I will be writing to Atos tomorrow.

Best wishes
maggie

Well, I wrote to Atos & DWP pointing out I had been sent the wrong form. Having heard nothing from either by yesterday I phoned my jobcentre+ to be told I had to phone Atos about it. Rang the number JC+ had given me for Atos to be told nothing to do with them & given the same JC+ phone number I had already used.
Today I received a follow up reminder from Atos reminding me of the deadline for returning the ESA50 03/11 which I had been sent before the 28th March!
Rang the Atos phone number on their website for DWP queries only to be told - again - nothing to do with them & to phone the same JC+ number again.

This time I had more success as at least the JC+ worker took the details of my letter, which wasn't even logged on the computer as having been received, & sent an email to whichever section send out the ESA50s & told me I should receive the correct ESA58 09/10 by the end of next week, with a new date for return & most importantly that in the meantime my ongoing entitlement to benefit would not be put at risk now he had logged the situation on my case record.

I have to say everyone I spoke to was perfectly pleasant but what a shambolic system.

It'll be interesting to see if am sent the correct form & the deadline has been extended.

Best wishes to all
maggie

Hi Maggie, hope it sorts itself out soon!

Maybe you need to brace yourself for another annoying set of phonecalls; just incase they don't extend the time to get the form in!

All the best,
Rachel

The saga continues. Having received nothing in the post by the end of the week I made yet another phone call to Jobcentre+ about my letter to Atos & JC+ re issue of wrong ESA50 & previous phone conversation with one of its officers. I was assured that this earlier phone call & the outcome had been logged but the adviser dealing with my claim would be contected & would phone me between 9am & 12pm the next day.

'My' adviser did phone the next day & before 12 pm!! Told me that having checked with her Section Manager, the ESA50 03/11 hadn’t been sent to me in error as all ESA reassessments from 14.03.11 had been included for the new version!!

My adviser confirmed that my ESA claim would remain ‘live’ i.e. not ‘shut down’; I may or may not be expected to complete an ESA50 03/11; & if I were, I would be given a similar timescale for completion & return to Atos; & that it would all be confirmed to me in writing.

So, 6 days later & no surprise that still nothing received in the post from DWP & Atos.

As before, everyone I have spoken to has been very apologetic but still DWP can't accept the unending stress their processes put on everyone involved.

maggie

Developments of a kind!!
Yesterday I had a phone call from Atos trying to arrange an appointment for my ESA medical. This despite the fact I am still waiting for another ESA50 & the confirmation letter I was promised from JC+ confirming my claim was still 'live'. Having recounted the my story about the issue of the wrong ESA50 & all the phone calls to Atos & JC+, I was told by Atos I would have to contact JC+ again about the ESA50 etc as the computer automatically generates the dates for medicals & Atos couldn't do anything about it. However, I was told that if I didn't agree to a date for the medical today & which would have to take place by 2 weeks time I would be regarded as having been uncooperative & so would put my entitlement to ESA at risk. Cutting a long phone converation short it seemed best to agree to the date for the medical, phone JC+ again & then once I had received the correct ESA50 phone Atos again & rearrange the medical for a later date.
So I phoned JC+ today & explained yet again the problems I had had since the issue of the wrong ESA50 only to be told I had to phone Atos for them tyo sort it out!! By now I was close to really losing it but managed to stay calm enough to persuade JC+ to do whatever had to be done to send me the corect ESA50. I asked if my original letter from the beginning of April had been logged on the computer as received - no it hadn't but there are delays with processing mail & when asked about the non appearance of the letter I should have received confirming my claim was still 'live'it isn't recorded on the computer as having been done which means it is being worked on & if you were told it would be sent then it will be .
I'm sure it's a plot between DWP & Atos to make it even more confusing & put us off making our legitimate claims.
maggie

Well it's now:

7 weeks ago since I wrote to DWP & Atos about being sent the wrong ESA50;

4 weeks since I chased it up & then got passed back & forth beteeen JC+ & Atos;

15 days since JC+ promised to send me a letter confirming my claim was still 'live'etc;

5 days since JC+ promised to send the replacement ESA50;and 'surprise, suprise' still nothing received,although the day after the phone call from Atos I received a letter confirming the appointment for the medical next month.
I am now seriously worried about my ongoing eligiblity for ESA so have decided to write to Darra Singh Chief Exec at DWP 'politely' asking him to sort it out & copy it to my MP.
Wish me luck!
Best wishes to all - maggie